The Celtics tip off a stretch of three games in four days tonight against three of their biggest rivals in the league. Tonight’s game against Orlando is followed by Atlanta tomorrow night and the Lakers on Sunday.
Scott Souza wonders why the league just didn’t go ahead and schedule the Cavaliers in for Saturday while they were at it. Jim Fenton also looks at the challenging stretch of games coming up. Chris Forsberg has the Celtics looking forward to this challenge. Steve Bulpett has the Magic looking for payback for the Christmas Day loss the Celtics handed them. A. Sherrod Blakely has tonight’s game a big one for both teams.
Mark Murphy has Doc Rivers holding himself accountable.
Paul Flannery makes his All Star reserves selections. Gary Washburn wonders if Rajon Rondo might get his first All Star nod when the reserves are named tonight on TNT.
Stan Grossfeld catches up with former Celtic Glenn McDonald, one of the heroes of game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals.
Patriots
Speaking as Vince Wilfork, Karen Guregian says that the nose tackle should absolutely hold out if the franchise tag is put on him. Glen Farley has Wilfork wanting no part of the franchise tag. Mike Reiss offers his analysis of Wilfork’s statements yesterday on WEEI. On Patriots Daily we’re wondering if the Patriots should even re-sign Wilfork.
Jeff Howe says that Bill Belichick can’t go wrong by naming either Matt Patricia or Pepper Johnson as defensive coordinator. Christopher Price looks at the Patriots linebackers.
Albert R. Breer has scouts questioning the NFL ability of Tim Tebow. Ian R. Rapoport has Pete Carroll learning his lesson from his stint in New England, especially when it comes to personnel.
Tom E. Curran says that the Pro Bowl has just gone from bad to worse. Steve Buckley says that this Super Bowl doesn’t need Brett Favre.
The Globe Patriots notebook has Wes Welker’s ACL surgery set for Tuesday at Mass General. Guregian’s notebook has more on the surgery. Rapoport’s Senior Bowl Notebook has the Patriots warning prospects about the potential evils of social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
Misc
Fluto Shinzawa has the Bruins grinding it out at practice in an attempt to shake themselves out of their slump. Joe Haggerty wonders which door leads to success for the Bruins. James Murphy says that the return of Marc Savard will be huge on and off the ice for the Bruins. Steve Conroy has Peter Chiarelli declaring Claude Julien’s job safe.
Mike Fine has Tim Wakefield wanting to be a starter. Brian MacPherson has a good piece on catching prospect Luis Exposito. Tom Caron says that Mike Cameron will be a huge factor in the Red Sox clubhouse. John Tomase has Daniel Bard pleased to be working with Jonathan Papelbon for another year.
Former Harvard football captain Carl Ehrlich writes about his experiences playing football in Spain.
Bill Reynolds misses Pete Sheppard.